election

Retired El Dorado County Superior Court Judges Eddie Keller, Douglas Phimister, Daniel Proud, and Warren Stracener have joined the long list of current and former judicial officers endorsing Superior Court Commissioner Gary Slossberg for the open Judge seat in the upcoming election on June 7, 2022. They join Retired Presiding Judge Suzanne N. Kingsbury, all current El Dorado County Superior Court Judges, and several judicial officers statewide in endorsing Commissioner Slossberg.

It was a great honor to serve as a member of the Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) Board of Trustees for the last four years. As previously reported, I am stepping aside to focus on my career and raising my beautiful baby girl. I said many times while I was on the Board that every family in the District was my family, and every child in the District was my responsibility. Now that I have a child of my own, I think the parents of LTUSD will understand when I say that I need to focus on my own family for the time being.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Following a special meeting on Monday to certify the November 3 election and say goodbye to outgoing councilmembers, newly elected Councilmembers Cristi Creegan and John Friedrich will be sworn in at the beginning of Tuesday's regular meeting.

The 9:00 a.m. meeting on December 1 will also include the following agenda items:

If those who attended the first Thanksgiving in 1621 happened to time travel and visit the 2020 version, what would they think of our version of the holiday?

That first celebration wasn't called Thanksgiving, they didn't have potatoes or pumpkin pie, but they did have a feeling of gratitude and thankfulness over the three-day celebration after a successful harvest.

Thanksgiving is based on the idea that we should all take time to count our blessings at least once a year and to celebrate it with family and friends.

More ballot counts have been released by the elections departments at both El Dorado and Douglas Counties.

EL DORADO COUNTY

El Dorado County election officials have released another tally of ballots counted. The results remain the same as of the November 10 count. Votes Cast: 116,744 of 135,554, or 86.12 percent of eligible voters.

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Nev. - Election officials have released their first post-election day tabulation of the ballots for Douglas County races. 86.27 percent of the voters have cast their vote: Mail 19,727 50.69%, Early Voting 10,448 26.85%, Election Day 3,399 8.73%. So far, ballots from 33,574 of the 38,918 eligible voters have been counted.

DOUGLAS COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 1

Danny Tarkanian - 25,293 75.34%

DOUGLAS COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 3

Mark Gardner - 21,639 64.45%
Charles Holt - 9,337 27.81%

DOUGLAS COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 5

4:00 p.m. UPDATE: There will be no more updates to the El Dorado County ballot count on Wednesday. According to election officials, mail in ballots are being counted but nothing will be updated on their website until tabulations occur Thursday afternoon.

There have been no updates since Tuesday night to the Douglas County election results.

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Nev. - County officials say the election process will not be affected after learning on Sunday, November 1 that a Douglas County employee involved in the election tested positive for COVID-19.

Douglas County has worked closely with Carson City Health and Human Services on contact tracing related to the positive case. Individuals who are considered close contacts to the positive case have already been notified regarding their need to isolate or quarantine.

There are those that would say 2020 is hands down the scariest Halloween movie ever and yeah, I wouldn’t argue with that. The script for this year has certainly freaked everybody out. Add to that an election year and the advent of modern day zombies who’ve been quarantined a little too long and you have the ultimate scary flick that appears to have no ending. Are you wearing your mask? Yeah, I’d rather be scared by a movie and not real life if that’s okay?

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - City Council made another attempt to create a Hosted Rental Ordinance but they decided at their meeting Tuesday to hand back to staff for some revisions.

After much discussion they decided to have staff clean up rules that could be potential loopholes for homeowners and/or tenants. This is the second time a first reading has been turned down for more fine tuning.

The following changes were added for Council to review October 20:

(1) Increase the required tenancy for a tenant to qualify as a hosted rental applicant from six months to two years;

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - Of the 133,251 registered voters in El Dorado County, 30,886, or 23 percent, have already turned in their ballots. The elections department does not have data from the 2016 election at the same point in time. That election had 97,024 or 83.31 percent of the 116,459 registered that year, turn in ballots by election day.

As of October 15:

Ballots returned by mail - 14,966
​Ballots returned in a drop box - 15,920

Of those ballots, 28,996 have had signatures verified against reference signature and the balance of 1,890 are awaiting verification.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The first set of campaign finance reports filed by South Lake Tahoe City Council candidates have been received by election officials and posted to the City's website.

Required forms:

Form 460 - Candidates who have raised/spent $2,000 or more file
Form 410 (Statement of Organization) - Must also be filed once $2,000 or more has been raised/spent
Form 470 - Candidates who do not raise or spend $2,000 or more (or anticipate raising or spending $2,000 or more) in 2020 and do not have an open committee

As a candidate for City Council, in the city of South Lake Tahoe, I became very upset at a very disturbing text I had received on Friday concerning campaign contribution and form 460 lings.

South Tahoe Now reached out to all nine candidates for South Lake Tahoe City Council and provided the same list of questions to each one of them. Once a day their answers have been published in the order received. Today is our final candidate.

Today's candidate is Stacey Ballard

Profession: Artist/Author

How many years in SLT: I have lived in Tahoe on and off since 1997, over 16 in total.

South Tahoe Now reached out to all nine candidates for South Lake Tahoe City Council and provided the same list of questions to each one of them. Once a day their answers will be published in the order received.

Today's candidate is Cristi Creegan

Profession: Business Owner

How many years in SLT: 23 years

South Tahoe Now reached out to all nine candidates for South Lake Tahoe City Council and provided the same list of questions to each one of them. Once a day their answers will be published in the order received.

Today's candidate is Douglas Williams

Profession: Hospitality

How many years in SLT: 10 years

South Tahoe Now reached out to all nine candidates for South Lake Tahoe City Council and provided the same list of questions to each one of them. Once a day their answers will be published in the order received.

Today's candidate is John Friedrich

Profession: Founder and Director, Tahoe Green Jobs Initiative

How many years in SLT: 15

South Tahoe Now reached out to all nine candidates for South Lake Tahoe City Council and provided the same list of questions to each one of them. Once a day their answers will be published in the order received.

Today's candidate is Leonard Carter.

Occupation: Retired

How many years in SLT: 32 years

1. Explain why you are running for City Council and what your qualifications are. I believe I can help the council focus on real issues, such as: roads, law enforcement, trash, public safety, fire suppression, and not burn out on spurious popular topics.

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - Ballots for the November 3 General Election were mailed on Monday to the over 130,000 registered voters in El Dorado County.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) was able to refinance $15.15 million in general obligation bonds in September, saving property owners in the district $3,335,698 in property taxes.

With low interest rates brought about by the pandemic and economic uncertainty, LTUSD refinanced two series of their Election of 2008 General Obligation Bonds.

“With interest rates near historic lows, we wanted to take this opportunity to save our community money, particularly in light of the downturn in the economy,” said LTUSD Superintendent Dr. Todd Cutler.

With about four million 18-year-olds nation-wide able to vote in the November 3 election, local voting advocates are reaching out to first-time voters to help them register in South Lake Tahoe.

On Thursday, August 20 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., a group of volunteers will be at Regan Beach on the lawn to help get those first-time voters registered.

Bring identification and wear a mask.

Coordinator Holly Greenough, former principal at Tallac High School, use to registere students at the high school, but since her retirement and her group of volunteers moving, she changed venues.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The mayor of South Lake Tahoe has been a ceremonious position and doesn't carry any special voting privileges. Normally the mayor, and mayor pro tem, are one year terms as guided by City Code, and they will represent the community in those roles.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Election Day in 2020 is on November 3, just 134 days away. There will be several elected positions opening up in South Lake Tahoe and Meyers: South Tahoe Public Utility District, South Lake Tahoe City Council, Lake Tahoe Unified School District Board of Trustees, Lake Tahoe Community College Board of Trustees, and the Lake Valley Fire Board of Directors.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There were eight candidates vying to fill a vacant spot on the South Tahoe Public Utility District (STPUD) Board of Directors with interviews held during a special meeting Thursday, June 11.

The board selected Duane Wallace to complete the term of the late Jim Jones.

Wallace is no stranger to STPUD having previously served 20 years on the Board, from 1991-2007 and 2014-2018.